Reader Comments (4)

I'm definitely going to have to get a hold of a copy of Horton's latest book and read it; I'm sure I'll agree with most, if not all, of his critique of 21st Century American Evangelicalism. But in a way that's a unique kind of paradox in and of itself: a quote from Challies' review, " ... 'It is not heresy as much as silliness that is killing us softly.' This is where the book may be most useful for the conservative Christians who are the audience most likely to read it..."

Yes, indeed, *we* (i.e., probably most of us who scan blogs like this one and look for orthodox material to reinforce what we already believe about Christianity) are the most likely audience, but it needs to go beyond just us. I've placed written material or web links like Horton's works in front of people who fancy the latest and greatest *fad*, whether it's The Purpose Driven Life; The Prayer of Jabez; Your Best Life Now; or most recently, The Shack, and they just throw up their noses and don't even bother to read it - or if they do, they get as far as the liner notes or the first chapter and then throw it down, calling me negative for spending any time with such material.

While Horton unabashedly preaches the truth and nothing but the truth, I'm convinced that only a major cataclysmic upheaval of some kind will bring the masses humbly back the Gospel when all of their up-beat, self-help material has proven itself worthless. Given the current state of world economic uncertainty perhaps we're not too far from that. Who knows. But it's too bad that such good resources as this go unnoticed along the way, before it's too late.

Right on George- how about this little tidbit from the last paragraph of the first chapter: "Actually, I am writing about 'us'- all of us who profess the name of Christ both as ministers and witnesses. It would be easier if we could identify one particular writer, circle of writers, or movement as an isolated nemesis. However, no tradition is free of captivity, including my own, and no person, including myself. There is therefore no position of antiseptic purity that I can pretend to occupy, from which I can mop up the rest of the floor. The most that any of us can do is to say with Isaiah, as he beheld a vision of God in his holiness, 'Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" (Isa. 6:5)

I hope we are not expecting those who are unfamiliar with the message of Christless Christianity to react in a positive manner. I think Roland Bainton in his biography of Luther made the point that Luther and many of the Reformers were expecting most to come to their point of view about the Gospel. What happened instead was great upheaval and turmoil in the culture. The divisions between groups of people got worse instead of better. Those in power who did not agree with the reformers fought much harder to resist their message.

We never know what might happen- great reformation may break out in the Church or great persecution. We just have to make sure we are not getting persecuted for the wrong reasons and are not being obnoxious about our witness to the Gospel. And that the message we proclaim is accurate and faithful to what the scriptures teach.